MASSALIA Marseille 385-220 - Lot 225

MASSALIA Marseille 385-220 Head of the river god Lacydon in the guise of Apollo, left left, with sideburns. R/. M-A canting a four-spoked four-spoked wheel. ♦ Brenot Lyon 116 et seq. Silver obol (group III). (0.70 g) Type from the Trésor d'Auriol. Very fine. Exemplary Étienne Regnard Collection (2023) n°81 Marseilles. Coins first appeared in Gaul in the 6th century B.C. through the Greek colony of Marseille, the first monetary workshop on French soil. Marseille or Massalia was a Phocaean colony founded not far from the Rhone delta around 600 B.C. by Greeks from Phocaea, a city in Asia Minor. As early as the 6th century, the Massaliotes placed themselves under the protection of Delphian Apollo and Artemis, both of whom can be seen on the city's coins. Auriol Treasure. The treasure trove of 2,130 silver coins (obols and half-obols) was unearthed in 1867 in the commune of Auriol, 25 km from Marseille in the Bouches-du-Rhône département of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Monnaies du type du "Trésor d'Auriol": common name for archaic coins minted in Marseille during this period.